Oneshots and Ideas: Mass Effect
by Tys1990
Summary: A collection Oneshots and Ideas that my mind has come up with. Some funny, some disturbing and some just plain odd. Rated for safety.
1. Introduction

Disclaimer: You know the drill, I don't own Mass Effect, that belongs to BioWare.

This will be a series of Oneshots and random ideas, some funny and some that are just plain freaky, with stuff in between and will most likely be an ongoing project due to my craziness coming up with insane ideas. Some ideas I may expand into their own stories. If any of you want to continue them send me a PM for permission and send me link to it if I grant it.

This is rated M because some of the individual pieces may meet the criteria for M-rated fics, this does not mean that they all are.

I hope you enjoy them.


	2. Team Effect

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, it belongs to BioWare. This is just me fooling around with ideas but not making any money from it.

* * *

Mass Effect - Team Effect

**Shanxi – 2157**

A young Turian recruit adjusted his grip on his assault rifle as he marched along to the alien settlement thinking that this was probably not the most ideal situation for a first contact situation. He had just turned fifteen, finished basic training and was on a routine patrol when they encountered an unknown alien race attempting to activate an unexplored Mass Effect Relay, known as Relay 314.

Rather than try to attempt to open negotiations with the aliens his commanding officer ordered them to open fire on their vessels, and while he himself didn't agree with the course of action he followed his orders like a good soldier he had been trained to be. A few of the alien vessels managed to escape them and so they gave chase.

Apart from what seemed to be futile attempts to slow them down they encountered very little resistance and pursued the fleeing vessels to what seemed to be an alien colony world. The lack of any orbital defences allowed them to immediately begin landing troops onto the planet.

So now here he was marching with his unit into the alien settlement and feeling as if things was about to go very wrong soon. Despite the minimal military resistance they had encountered getting to the planet he didn't think that they would encounter none actually on the planet. The fact that the settlement was so empty was putting him on guard, given its size he thought they would have encountered at least one of the aliens so far even if they didn't know what they would look like yet.

When they were in the middle of the settlement everyone started feeling that something was wrong. It was when the commanding officer ordered them to cease advancing when the strange sound started filling the air and when they looked from where it was coming from they spotted what must have undoubtedly been one of the aliens, playing what he presumed was one of the strangest instruments he had seen.

It was a two legged thing and even seemed to have five fingers on each of its hands had a facial structure that was vaguely similar to the asari, although it's left eye had what probably would have been an eye-patch similar to what a few asari wore after damaging or losing an eye. Its skin seemed to be a dark brown colour and it seemed to have some fine, dark fur around its mouth but most of the rest of its body couldn't be seen underneath its clothing.

A dark hat covered the top of its head and it wore a red shirt with whit forearms underneath what seems to be a heavily padded black vest that had odd looking yellow objects strapped to it. It also seemed to wear something similar to the skirts worn by the asari but seemed to only come down to its knees and had an unusual criss-crossing pattern. The presumed instrument seemed to consist of a bag, made of a similar material as the skirt, with even a matching pattern, that had numerous pipes with holes sticking out of them.

The odd sounding music continued for a few more seconds before the alien stopped playing and grinned in a similar manner to the asari, although this one seemed to have a hint of madness to it. It was then that the alien seemed to start speaking loud enough for them all to hear but none of them could recognise what was said,

"_Ay! I heard a sound on thine holy trumpet and found our dear frontier was under threat by creatures from the abyss. They've found easy prey in our little explorers and comin' down 'ere so proud and cocksure expectin' us to be easier that nancy Scout's mama but 'ere an' now I declare that these bastards are about to find out wha' it's really like to mess wi' us. So are you hearin' me you scaly lizard bastards? Your time has come! Let's get it on you big lanky jessies! It's time to fight back!"_

As soon as the alien stopped talking a loud bang rang out and their commanding officer's head ended up with a large hole in his head followed swiftly by his second and third in command in the same manner.

* * *

In a hidden location one alien, with a much paler skin tone, was looking down the scope of his sniper rifle and smirked to himself,

"_Boom … headshot."_ He said quietly to himself

* * *

Upon the death his commanders the recruit had brief moment of hesitation before bring his riffle up ready to shoot the dark skinned alien, as did several others but before they could pull their triggers the alien had dropped his instrument and had thrown two of the yellow objects that was strapped to its vest towards the largest concentrations of the unit, all the while running out of sight but before any of them could give chase the two yellow objects exploded sending two large groups off of their feet, including the recruit.

When the recruit pushed himself up he had to fight back the urge to vomit as his head rang from the explosion, it didn't help that when he looked up he saw that many of his fellow soldier had been killed or horrifically maimed in the blasts. Looking around the area he noticed other members of his unit seeking cover while frantically looking around trying to spot the location of the sniper who was quickly picking each of them off efficiently with just one shot to the head for each of them.

Scrambling to cover he tried to understand the situation but communication and chain of command was breaking down, due to the fact that whoever shown any indication of trying to give out orders they be picked off by the hidden sniper if the stuck their head out or weren't in cover. Just when he thought things couldn't get much worse one of the metal doors leading into the area seemed to roll up and out came nearly a dozen of the aliens all of them with a different and much paler skin tone to the one that was spotted earlier, each of them also varying vastly in their body shape and size.

He saw the smallest one seemed to forego any body armour, save a small pack on its back, but it seemed to make up for it by easily being much faster than he would have thought possible without biotics and it didn't help his confidence when he saw the alien blast two of his fellow soldiers with its gun as it ran past them which left them with large gaping wounds in their chests, despite the armour, and mercifully killed one outright but left the other one the ground letting out a strangled scream before finally becoming still.

As the fast alien ran out of sight with three soldiers chasing after it, the recruit changed his attention to the other aliens or rather the one that got his attention the most, which was the largest of them. It looked as big as a krogan but what really got his attention was the massive weapon and a feeling of dread filled him as he saw the alien bear its teeth in an insane grin before firing its weapon. It was crude and simplistic compared to the more sophisticated weaponry that they had on their ship but unfortunately their group had come to this settlement expecting minimal resistance and so had very little to match the overwhelming rate of fire of the large alien, its shots forcing them to try and keep moving as each shot went straight through most of the cover they were using. As he saw the other soldiers begin to rout under the aliens' counter attack he soon found his body acting on instinct and fear as it began to do the same even pushing away a fellow soldier who just had half his head blown off by the alien sniper, doing anything at all to try and get away from the monsters. Running away he could hear a coming from them that could easily be mistaken for laughter, laughter that would haunt his dreams that night when what was left of his unit made camp.

* * *

In the Turian's camp the weak morale was practically tangible. The moaning and other agonised sounds from the wounded did not help the matter nor did most of their command structure being wiped out by a much smaller force of aliens that most likely wasn't as technologically advanced as them. This here was what was playing on most of their minds because while the alien warriors were very fearsome and details were sketchy from the confusion it was clear that there was less than a dozen that directly engaged them, with an unknown number of snipers as well, the settlement itself was much too large for it to just house those few, leaving the Turians with a few worrying questions in need of answering, such as 'How many are there?', 'Are they all as dangerous?' and perhaps the most disturbing of all being 'Where are they?'.

The only semblance of good news they had was when they were able to establish communications with their vessel orbiting the planet and request immediate emergency aid and reinforcements.

Although many shuddered to think what a ground war with these aliens would be like.

* * *

The next morning things went from bad to worse. When one of the soldiers went to check on the wounded he found them all dead, by their medicine being randomly messed with and/or simply stabbed with their throats slit open. When he rushed to alert their medic he was horrified to find him dead in his tent, apparently by being literally stabbed in the back.

He turned to get out of the tent only to be confronted by their medic, who gave him the equivalent of a cocky smirk. Without thinking he worriedly looked back at the body before once again looking at the person in front of him, only this time instead of the face of their medic he was faced with one of the aliens, this one having a red mask covering most of its head and face.

Without his guns, the soldier tried to lash out with its talons but the alien trapped his arm in some kind of hold. It was then that something truly horrific happened; the alien appearance began to change until it became an exact copy of himself and realising that that this must have been how it got around unnoticed he tried to yell out a warning to the rest but unfortunately at that moment the doppelganger flicked out a knife and stuck it in the soldier's throat.

As the life left the soldier's body the last thing he saw was the imposter putting a knife that was covered in blue blood away, while walking out of the tent.

* * *

By the time reinforcements arrived the camp was if a state of panic. The bodies in the medical tent and the medic's tent had been found, the numerous guards that had been killed around the camp did not help matters either. To make things worse their food and medical supplies had been sabotaged, while some of their weapons and ammunition were no longer able to be accounted for.

The reinforcements and supplies was a welcome arrival for the initial landing party. A quick report to the commanding officer about the situation and a message was soon sent to the orbiting vessel to be redirected to the Turian Hierarchy requesting that more reinforcements be sent due to the fact that they had encountered such vicious resistance so far and if more of the aliens appeared then they felt that they would need all the help they could get.

Once the message had been relayed the turians began to get themselves ready, because it was clear to the reinforcements that, without actual targets for an orbital bombardment, this was going to be a very hard fight.

Soon afterwards the turian soldiers would make another attempt to take the settlement and once again they encountered the fierce, not to mention apparently insane, aliens and even when they were separated the aliens were proven to be extremely dangerous.

* * *

The dark skinned alien made itself known once again by first charging straight at group of technicians that were calibrating a set of portable auto-turrets. Despite being under heavy fire it fired its weapon with deadly accuracy, effortlessly blowing up its targets with the grenades fired.

When later being pursued by a pair of soldiers the alien confused them by firing straight ahead of itself, only for them to feel their blood turn to ice when they saw the grenade bounce off of the doorway of the building the alien ran into and land directly in at their feet. Before they even had a chance to scream the grenade did its work.

It was shortly after this incident when the alien ran straight into a turian patrol but before they could aim their weapons it ran off out of sight, they gave chase hoping to capture or at least eliminate this alien and soon caught up to it. It was standing in a clearing, seemingly discarded its weapon and was apparently drinking something out of a bottle but despite this the patrol kept their weapons trained on the alien and cautiously advanced towards it due to the fact the aliens so far had proven themselves to be quite devious. As they crossed the threshold of the building, one of the soldiers saw bizarre red objects, with spikes sticking out of them, embedded around the other side of the threshold. When he looked back at the alien he saw it give one of their devious smiles and a mocking salute, bottle still in hand, and realized too late that they had walked into a trap. Before any of them could do anything the trap detonated in a fiery explosion, accompanied by mad alien laughter.

* * *

A turian sniper was lying prone and watching over his unit as they cautiously advanced into the settlement, ready to lay down some supporting fire as and when needed.

They heard the alien before they saw it, a surprising fact given that it was wearing a large red coat and a helmet that covered half its head, it was doing some form of battle cry as it rushed in between the soldiers shooting them with a primitive form of shotgun. The turian sniper tried to shoot it but it was hard to get a clear shot, when he did get one he was surprised that its helmet deflected it despite the fact that there was no sign of any shields being used to help.

When it became apparent that the armour was protecting the soldiers from most of the harm, the alien surprised them switching its weapon and started shooting them with a rocket launcher, which they had no idea where it was hidden. Still the sniper tried to bring the alien down, but it kept ducking in and out of cover or otherwise making a kill shot damn near impossible.

Just as most of his unit had been killed by the alien, it ran towards his position and in a move of absolute insanity used its rocket launcher as a means of propelling itself up to his position. He watched it fly over his head and could tell that it would land behind him but with its back towards him, he quickly stood up and turned ready to shoot the alien before it had time to turn around first.

And was promptly smacked in the face by a shovel.

* * *

One turian officer had just received word from a scout that one of the aliens had been spotted by itself out in the open. It was an opportunity but it was one that he would be careful with, the aliens had proven their tenacity and he would not underestimate even one of them, a few officers wanted to try and take one alive if the opportunity presented itself but he knew that with these things overkill would be the bare minimum required against them. That was why he was bringing two hundred soldiers with him.

When they got there he had his men encircle the position of the alien ready to follow his orders. Before he would decide on a course of action he decided to try and view the situation for himself.

The alien was sat down and leaning against a vehicle of some kind, playing a string based instrument that seemed similar to one used by some asari. It was wearing a red outfit, typical of the aliens encountered so far, underneath a pair of overalls and a large glove on one of its hands, as well as what seemed to be a yellow helmet on its head.

When really caught his attention however was the contraptions around the alien, he wasn't certain but he was sure that they were alien turrets. One thing that was bothering him was that his scout had yet to contact them since the initial report, it made him feel uneasy about the situation and so tried to get in contact with him,

"Private report in." He ordered through his com – link but all he received was static, "I repeat, report in."

It was then that he noticed that the alien had stopped playing his instrument and was messing with something, a device he couldn't recognise but before he had time to ponder what it was a voice came over the radio. His voice.

"All units charge. I repeat all units charge."

His eyes widened in horror as he saw his men follow the orders from over the com – links only to have his suspicions confirmed in the worst way possible that; yes those were alien turrets. Alien auto-turrets. Alien auto-turrets that fired missiles as well as bullets.

He tried to cancel the order but found his com – link unresponsive. As he saw his men get slaughtered he tried desperately to think of how this could have happened, it was then that he noticed something odd about the campfire that the alien was using. His eyes widened in horror as he saw that it was a turian body that was burning, one that was wearing scouting armour.

As the final piece fell into place, he realised that the aliens had not only hacked into their com-systems but had also managed to gain some semblance of their language as well and used it to lay a deadly trap. As the officer collapsed in on himself, his mind kept asking how this could have happened.

Down in the eye of the storm the alien smiled to itself as it calmly played its instrument before quietly speaking out loud,

"_Thanks for the help Doc."_

but over the screams and gunfire nobody could hear it, even as it continued to play.

* * *

Krull was a relatively young krogan, just over a hundred years old, but that didn't stop him from doing mercenary work. He didn't work for criminals, he considered himself to have more honour than that, but most other krogans would have been surprised and disgusted at his decision to fight with turians, who also shared similar sentiments, but the way he saw it was that their credits were as good as anyone else's and if one or two turians were to get 'accidentally' hit well that was to be expected, after all he was apparently 'just some dumb muscle'.

Now a krogan mercenary working with turians was strange enough but for one to be working on a vessel of the Turian Hierarchy was almost unbelievable, however it couldn't be denied that krogans were amongst the most toughest and resilient species in the known galaxy and could be useful for helping to scout out unknown, dangerous or even hostile environments. The reason that Krull was on a basic patrol vessel was to familiarise the new recruits with the idea of working with krogan, albeit under rare circumstances. Normally krogan mercenaries would consider such jobs an insult but as far as he was concerned it seemed like easy credits.

But after arriving at this planet it seemed that the turians showed him just how weak they really were. They arrived in a superior force against a group of aliens that had probably only just worked out how to travel through space and had been soundly gotten kicked in the quads. Repeatedly. So when they actually had to call in for reinforcements it seemed that Krull would have to actually earn his credits, not that he minded of course because after all he was being paid to fight a new enemy, while embarrassing the turians in the process. Now if they could throw in some raw salarian liver and a fertile female for him then it really would be a perfect job.

This led to him being sat down in some derelict area of the alien settlement, grumpily eating some ration bars with water. So far he had yet to encounter one of these new aliens and was staring to get frustrated but then he felt an odd tapping on the top of his hump. He quickly stood up and turned around with a snarl on his lips, coming face to the face with one of the aliens.

It was not what he expected.

It looked weak and feeble, barley any meat on its bones and no armour at all just a set of clothing which left parts of its legs and arms exposed, with an odd looking hat on its head. Its only weapon appeared to be a weak looking metal club. It just stood there with a look on its face similar to what the asari wore when they thought they were better than you.

Krull couldn't believe his eyes. This was what was giving the turians so much trouble? This was what he came down here to fight? It couldn't have even weighed even a quarter of what he did. It was an insult to consider this thing an enemy, especially with the way it gave him that infuriating look. One thing he was certain of was that he was going to show this thing and all the others not to underestimate krogan. He doubted that he would even need his gun and was sure that the fight would be over swiftly and this alien properly finished with.

While he was right about the fight being over with swiftly, he was 'dead' wrong about the outcome.

* * *

A couple of turian scouts was sneaking through one of the alien buildings in the hope of neutralizing the alien sniper, so far they had remained undetected and had already searched two other building before. Now that they were searching their third one and could hear the occasional gunshot coming from inside it, realising they might be able to have a chance of fulfilling their objective.

They carefully made their way up to the room where the alien was, it was facing out of the window looking down its scope with some glass containers filled with a unknown yellow liquid on a crate next to it and just as they were about to fire their guns a crunch from under foot, from one of the empty containers, caught the alien's attention. They quickly tried to shoot it but it quickly ducked and rolled out of the way, rapidly raised its rife and shot one of the turians in the head, taking it clean of his shoulders. When it tried to shoot the other its rifle click signalling that it was out of ammo but just as the remaining scout was about to shoot it, it grabbed one of the glass containers and threw it into the face of the scout. The scout on reflex closed his eyes as the glass smashed against his face and nearly gagged as the foul liquid entered his mouth, unfortunately for him he was unprepared for the alien to rush him with a curved knife the size of a small sword.

Looking down at the two headless turians the alien soon decided that it was time to change his location.

* * *

Thankfully for the turians, reinforcements dispatched by the Hierarchy eventually arrived along with more supplies and equipment, allowing the turians to set up a perimeter of camps around the settlement. Despite the repeated sabotage of the food, other supplies and communications, the turains slowly began to take more and more of the settlement due to their weapons damaging or even destroying the buildings and their numbers slowly beginning to push the aliens back.

A turian officer watched through long range binoculars as the dark skinned alien and the fast one was being pursued by a large number of infantry, the fact that they still continued to move despite the obvious injuries was somewhat impressive. The two aliens settled themselves behind a large rock behind where the other known aliens were taking cover behind other large rocks and boulders. So far they had pinned down all of those that had been seen in the past, except for the large one that had been injured and was now inside the building which had a red cross on a white circle crudely painted on the side of it.

While it was good that they had finally started to push them back, the officer found it truly pitiful that it had taken so much to try and deal with just these few. If he had had a say in the matter then he would have ordered a complete orbital bombardment in an area so wide that there was no possibility of even one of the aliens escaping but higher up had refrained from doing so and he was in no position to challenge the command, making it so that he had to do the best with what he was able.

As the turian soldiers advanced the large doors of the building opened up and reveal two aliens one was the largest one, much to the overseeing officers surprise, the other had never been reported before but the most noticeable features was the red gloves, a white coat similar to the lab coat worn by other races and what seemed to be some strange looking weapon that was connected to the machine strapped to its back.

As the large one took cover near the frontline, the alien with the white coat seemed to aim its weapon at the two injured aliens. At first the observing officer thought that the alien was going to kill its own and was surprised when the weapon fired it produced some form of red energy that enveloped the two injured aliens and actually stared healing them rapidly before his eyes, the fast one even leapt up and quickly ran forward and viciously hit one turian, that was attempting to flank them, with its metal club. Still regardless of this the turaian forces would soon overwhelm their position.

The alien in the white coat managed to make its way to cover next to large one. In a moment of seeming desperation, the large alien stepped out of the cover of the boulder with the one in the white coat standing behind it but before either of them could be shot by the turians, the smaller alien activated its device only this time enveloping the large one in form of energy that was a much darker red.

To the surprise of the officer the large one's body started to gain a deep red glow, while its eyes shone an unsettling bright yellow and the alien itself gave off what could be viewed as a gleeful roar. Almost immediately as it started firing its weapon one of the turian soldiers had the presence of mind to try and neutralise it quickly with a small rocket but the alien's weapon never stopped firing and when it stepped through the clearing smoke it was clear that the rocket had no effect. As the soldiers started to concentrate their fire upon the alien it became apparent that their weaponry was have negligible if any effect. Things soon became a massacre as the turain soldiers halted their advance and tried to take cover but their numbers worked against them as there wasn't enough cover for all of them and so many were mowen down by the alien's weapon and it didn't take long for several to start retreating in the face of a seemingly invulnerable enemy, which escalated into a full on rout.

In the distance the officer tried to maintain his composure and simply shook his head dejectedly in the face of yet another catastrophic failure.

* * *

In the alien base the aliens were relaxing after the latest turian efforts, when the dark skinned alien seemed to notice something was amiss, after quickly looking around it addressed the one with the yellow helmet, who was playing its instrument,

"_Ay do you 'ave any idea where yer buddy is?"_

This seemed to catch the attention of the rest, while the one with the yellow helmet just smiled,

"_Damn. I didn't notice that the freak was missing."_ The fast one said,

"_Well I thought it was a bit unfair that all of us were having all the fun, so I figured that my little friend could have a go."_ the one with the yellow helmet drawled,

"_So then where is that thing?"_ The large one asked,

"_The lizards' camps."_ Came the reply,

There was a horrified silence that passed between the aliens as they heard this statement, before the one with the white coat spoke up,

"_You are a more sadistic man than I first thought Herr Techniker."_

"_One shudders to imagine what horrors lie behind that mask. What depraved thoughts of chronic and sustained cruelty."_ The alien wearing the red mask and suit commented while staring at the lit end of its cigarette,

The one with the yellow helmet just smiled.

* * *

General Desolas Arterius was in his camp's command centre looking over a map of the surrounding area, assessing the situation. His ship had only arrived earlier that day where he shortly learned of the most recent disaster involving the aliens at how one had been rendered near impervious to damage. As far as he was concerned everything in the month since they had landed on this planet things had gone from bad to worse, every death from this conflict could be easily be blamed on the officer that order the first shots fired instead of trying to establish communications first, in a moment of either astounding stupidity or arrogance.

Each report of the disastrous encounters and of the various forms of sabotage just lead further credence to the fact that the aliens had been severely underestimated in regards to their abilities. Each pitfall, ambush and other traps set the men further on edge making the men nervous about leaving their camps, while the infiltration and assassinations left them feeling vulnerable regardless. It was truly a maddening situation.

Now he was receiving reports of other camps going silent, it was apparently quite a common occurrence throughout the camps along with other forms of sabotage but with so many at once being shut down in such quick succession it seemed like a cause for concern, especially considering that a badly burned soldier from one of the other camps stumbled into his. All that they were able to learn was that they were attacked in by a 'monster', after that the wounded soldier had to be medicated and was rendered unconscious in order to treat his life threatening injuries.

Desolas rubbed his tired eyes; in his opinion this entire operation was a series of poor judgment and mistakes of people who clearly either didn't deserve or weren't ready for certain responsibilities. He'd decided that they was going to get the men back up to the ships and then simply bombard the damn settlement and a mile or two of the surrounding area just to be sure and once that was done they would evaluate the situation before deciding what to do next. The shuttles should arrive the next day and then they could bring their full power against these aliens.

He was quickly pulled from his thoughts as an explosion rang throughout the camp, rushing outside he spotted the communication station was in flames. He was trying to figure out just what exactly was going on when he spotted an object arcing through the air, a bottle with a flaming rag in its neck, and saw it hit the medical tent sending a wave of fire spreading out from the impact.

The camp had descended into anarchy, fire was spreading throughout the compound, the screams of the soldiers rang out before being silenced with a gunshot or more disturbing just left to continue and eventually die out themselves. Throughout it all Desolas was trying to establish some form of order while also trying to get as many injured to safety as possible, pulling them out of burning wreckage and such. He was escorting some men pulled from the now collapsed medical tent in order to get them to safety, as they were moving between some of the burning tents he spotted a soldier standing where they were heading, about to fire his rife at an unseen target only to be engulfed in a stream of fire.

Ignoring the screams of the soldier ahead of him Desolas had his group make a sharp turn away from the direction of where the fire stream came from. They kept running but the smoke was starting affect their vision and making it hard to breathe but Desolas was determined to make it to the other camps and at least warn them if not call for evacuation immediately. As they were passing one of the burning tents the general noticed that one of the boxes inside of it was a munitions box and upon realising the apparent danger tried to make his men move faster before the worst should happen.

It wasn't fast enough.

The explosion of the munitions tent sent group off of their feet, killing most of them outright. The only survivor was Desolas, due to his higher quality armour, but his head was still ringing from the blast, was rendered incapable of hearing the chaos around him and one of his mandibles had been snapped in half by a combination of being hit by debris and a rough landing.

He tried to push himself up from the ground but his body was still shaken up buy the explosion and was only able to shakily push himself onto his hands and knees, he felt like he was going to be sick and that was before he raised his head to try see if anyone else survived but the state of their bodies left little doubt in his mind that he was the only one to survive out of the group he was leading.

As he tried to push himself up and unfamiliar looking boot stepped into his field of vision. Looking up at the figure in front of him was what he assumed was one of the aliens, its entire body was encased in a red outfit, with black gloves and boots, and wearing an unsettling looking mask that covered its head and seemed to have some form of re-breather built in but the most disturbing thing about the mask were the eye pieces that gave it a soulless look.

Before he could do anything however the alien raised its weapon to Desolas' face, the small blue flame on the end not even touching him but still hurting him. It seemed to tilt its head in curiosity at the sight of the turian general before pulling the trigger of its weapon. The only thing Desolas could do was scream.

It was the last thing he would ever do.

* * *

The next day when the turian vessels failed to receive confirmation that Desolas' camp was ready for pick up, so they sent a small scouting unit in order make sure that communications hadn't been sabotaged. The scouts didn't need to exit the shuttle in order to see that things had gone horrifyingly wrong and that it was far too late for them to do anything if the cold ashes were anything to go by. Because they couldn't transport all of the corpses in the shuttle nor could they risk multiple trips they simply had to scan the dead's registration implants that they were fitted with when they joined the military. The number of casualties was staggering but coming across the charred remains of General Desolas Arterius simply left them with a feeling of dread.

When they reported in what happened at the general's camp they were told to investigate the other camps that had gone silent. Regrettably they encountered similar situations at each camp and were forced to perform the macabre task of scanning the implants of the dead.

Thankfully however not every camp was destroyed and soon evacuations began, with the wounded being the first to be sent back up to the ships. The relief in those being evacuated was clear as was the near excitement at the prospect of conducting an orbital bombardment on the aliens that menaced them so much.

As the last of the shuttles left the planet's atmosphere a breath of relief passed through all those on board the turian ships, however just before the bombardment order could be given one of the ships came under heavy fire, the barrage quickly tore down its shields and the heavy fire ripped its hull apart. A quick check of the scanners revealed that the shots came from deeper in space, more extensive scans revealed just what had fired upon them; a fleet of unrecognisable ships that vastly outnumbered the turian ships.

Retaliatory fire was ordered as the aliens changed their targets to other ships but the sheer numbers as well as the fact that it seemed as if they had brought the equivalent of a dreadnaught with them started to overwhelm the turians. It was clear to those in command that this battle couldn't be won and so ordered a retreat and despite the quick response time several ships were crippled or even destroyed in the relatively brief battle.

The battle for the planet had been lost.

* * *

A young Turian recruit was sat in a bed in a hospital on Palaven being treated for the injuries that he had received facing the aliens, he had been one of the few that had been there from the beginning and had been amongst the first to land on the alien colony. Now he was one of the few members of his unit that had survived, a fact that weighed heavily on him which was compounded by the fact several had been his friends.

He didn't make it out unscathed though a fact he couldn't help but to lament, especially when he looked at his shoulder bound in bandages and his arm now gone having been too damaged to be saved at the time.

He was torn from his thoughts as another patient started screaming, he immediately tried to reach for his weapon only to remember that he was still in hospital. As he saw the medical staff trying to calm the patient down he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, he couldn't begrudge the other patient for his actions as he too woke screaming from his dreams taking him back to that living nightmare and even when awake he could swore that he could still hear that monstrous laughter ringing in the air. He rested his head in the palm of his remain hand and tried not to dwell on those thoughts, worried that if he did so his mind would force him back to that torment again. Once more taking a deep breath he acknowledged that it would take some time before he was well again and not necessarily in regards to his physical injuries either.

* * *

It didn't take long for news of the defeat to spread to the rest of the Turian Hierarchy and didn't take long for them to begin to mobilize their forces to retaliate but before they could be deployed the turian councillor had been called to a meeting with the other members of the Citadel Council where he had to explain the actions of their military in regards to a first contact situation. Neglecting to mention certain details of the, honestly humiliating, debacle was an exercise in futility due to the asari councillor's experience with politics and the salarian's extensive ability to gather information.

It was determined that the course of action to be undertaken was not a military one but rather a diplomatic one in an effort to try and prevent unnecessary bloodshed, a situation that would be handled by the asari in the hopes of establishing positive relations with these aliens only just entering the galactic community. With great reluctance the turian councillor surrendered the matter to the other members of the Citadel Council.

The contact between the council representatives and the aliens was tentative, to say the least, due to the aliens' caution towards them and the horror stories that the council representatives heard as a result of the reports of the survivors of the conflict. Luckily no hostilities broke out and with time positive communications and meetings were established resulting in extensive negotiations which led to, amongst other things, permission to retrieve the bodies of the fallen soldiers and the aliens, known as humans, to be granted an embassy on The Citadel.

The humans were still treated with a degree of trepidation by most of the other races. Vastly outnumbered by a mostly technologically superior enemy they still inflicted heavy casualties while taking comparatively low losses. Most of the other races had concerns in regards to the proficiency of humans to wage war and with even an outright fear of what would happen if they were to be provoked into taking action.

All anyone knew was that the humans were going to shake things up on the galactic stage

End

* * *

*Bonus1 – Debriefing*

After peace had been established between humanity and its newly discovered galactic neighbours, the Human Systems Alliance was eager to hear the reports from the nine heroes who had fought off the turians after getting the civilians and other personnel to safety and hiding them. They also hoped to gain a better understanding of the mentality of the brave men that they owed so much to and conducted the debriefing with all nine of them in the room at the same time in order gain an idea as to how they functioned together.

They was not what the committee expected and it didn't take long to establish that none of them were part of any regular military:

One of them was the particularly notorious Mr Jane Doe. Rejected from military service on mental health grounds but went on to fight in various conflicts anyway.

The medical doctor was most likely wanted in various countries for his experiments.

The Australian, known as Mr Mundy, was a suspected hit-man and wanted for questioning by numerous police forces.

The explosives expert, whose name was Tavish DeGroot, had been drinking from his scotch bottle thought the meeting. A small wonder that he hadn't run out already considering how much he had been drinking.

The kid was wanted by various police departments for assault, GBH, ABH, a string of sexual harassment lawsuits and jaywalking.

The Russian had a P.H.D in Russian Literature and had gone off the grid shortly after earning it.

The engineer, known as Dr Dell Conagher, was one of the few remotely normal one out of them but whether or not you could count someone with 11 doctorates as normal was debatable.

Their sabotage expert was disturbing in the fact that nothing could be found on him. It was like he just appeared at the colony.

Most disturbing of all was the one that was sat in a corner, dressed in a fire hazard suit and playing with a cigarette lighter. Something about that one just sent chills down their spines, especial since he? she? never spoke.

It had been established that they had been paid to act as extra security on the colony and that they had gotten the people out of there because they didn't want them in the way of the fights and 'spoil' their fun. It was clear that none of them was entirely sane but because of the lives they'd saved they were rapidly becoming known as heroes amongst the population of earth, regardless of their mental states or questionable pasts.

The circumstances behind some of them were political nightmares waiting to happen, not to mention a Public Relations disaster if they were to be handed over to the respective authorities. If they could secure pardons for them on the grounds of what they had done for humanity then it would make things easier.

"Thank you for your input gentlemen, we'll be in contact with you all and also thank you for your actions on Shanxi." One of the committee members said,

"It was no problem." Mr DeGroot said taking another swig of his scotch "Those alien bastards were easier than the Boy Scout's mama." He said causing much snickering between them men except for two,

"Hey! Don't talk about my mom like that Cyclops!" The kid said,

"Agreed. How dare you say that about ma Petite Fleur!" The saboteur said immediately afterwards, causing the kid to turn towards him in disgust and the other men to snigger amongst themselves,

"You don't get talk about my mom either. So fuck you." The kid said while flipping off the saboteur who just raised an eyebrow at him,

"I believe that is what ma Petite Fleur does," the saboteur countered making the kid pull a disgusted face, "every night," the kid's face was starting to turn green, "repeatedly." The saboteur finished with malicious glee, as the kid looked as though he was trying not to throw up and the rest of the men were out right laughing.

As the mercenaries laughed one of the committee members idly wondered if the alien would be more or less afraid of them if they knew just how insane the men who defeated them were.

End

* * *

*Bonus 2 – No one messes with my little girl.*

**Pragia**

Just outside of a hidden research facility on the planet a Cerberus officer was waiting for a shuttle to arrive, alongside half a dozen guards. Normally they wouldn't need more than two guards but this shuttle had failed to open communications despite it being a Cerberus vessel bringing in supplies, so they were being extra cautious.

The middle – sized shuttle seemed to land with no problems but when it opened nobody seemed to come out the guards raised their weapons and slowly advanced towards the shuttle door. It was too dark to see inside easily and so they were forced to cautiously enter it, as they did so the lead guard suddenly stopped when he spotted a blue flame in the darkness and a sinking feeling filled the guard before a stream of fire engulfed him and the other guards.

When the officer saw the guards engulfed in flames he tried to turn and alert the rest of the facility but was stopped by a knife entering his spine rendering him paralyzed from the waist down. When he had collapsed on the ground he wasn't given anytime to respond before he was grabbed by the back of his uniform and flipped onto his back to be met with the face of a man in a red balaclava,

"Don't bother calling for help. You are now going to answer our questions. So let's start with the most important one; where is Jennifer?" the masked man snarled,

"Who?" said the confused Cerberus officer and was promptly punched in the gut for it,

"Jennifer! The one you call 'Subject Zero'! Where is she?"

"I can't say." The officer gasped out,

"Can't or won't? Because if you can't then you become much less useful for us but if you won't then that means that I'm going to have to get rough."

"Because knifing me in the back isn't?" the officer retorted incredulously, and was answered with a punch in between his legs making him squeal in pain,

"So which is it then?" the assailant asked menacingly.

After a token resistance it didn't take long for the officer to break and figuratively spilled his guts about everything about the facility before the masked man then literally spilled his guts. The masked man turned to the one with the flamethrower,

"It's your call, who would you like to come with you?" He asked,

In response the pyromaniac pointed towards him and Dr Conagher,

"Very well." He acknowledged before turning towards the rest of the team all of them with serious expressions on their faces, "The rest of you can get the other children out, yes?"

"Gladly." The medic said while pushing up his glasses,

"Good to see that you draw the line somewhere Doc." The kid said,

"I believe the saying is 'don't work with children or animals'. Experimenting on animals is cruel and experimenting on children is just wrong." The medic calmly responded.

Once the team had a plan in mind they set upon the facility. The Cerberus guards didn't stand a chance especially when the kids in the facility saw an opportunity and started to riot, siding with the men that had arrived.

Inside Subject Zero's room a small girl was huddled under the desk, listening to the commotion going on outside, when the door opened and in stepped the lead researcher

"Come here Zero we're leaving." The researcher demanded,

She refused to come out from under her desk, angering the man who got onto his knees and tried to pull her out from under it, a hypodermic needle in his hand. With her biotics being suppressed she only resist as much as child could but before the researcher could stick the needle in her he was pulled back by someone else.

Zero had never seen this person before, they were dressed in a red outfit, with black gloves and boots, and a mask that covered their head entirely and was a little scary for her. When the researcher looked up and saw the mask looking down at him, terror filled his body but before he could scream or reach for his gun an axe split his head in two, which seemed to just sent the person off into a frenzy as they continued hacking at his body.

Feeling scared Zero was about to run out of the room but found the door way blocked by someone else she had never seen before the most distinctive thing about him was the yellow helmet on his head. She was about to pick up the researcher's discarded gun when the man spoke to,

"Easy there little lady, we're here to rescue you." He said,

She couldn't believe her ears they were here to rescue her? But she couldn't understand why they would do so and asked them why,

"Because our friend asked us to help save you."

"But why did they want to help me?"

"Because they want save their daughter, little lady."

The revelation stunned Zero but she couldn't believe it,

"If they cared so much then why leave me here so long then?" Anger seeping into her voice as tears began to pool in the corner of her eyes, the man sighed before answering,

"They were lied to and they thought you were dead but I promise you as soon they heard you were alive they contacted the rest of us to help save you."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing, she had family and they had come to rescue her,

"Then does that mean they're with you?" She asked hesitantly,

"Right behind you little lady." The man answered with a smile,

She turned around and saw the one with the axe looking at her, after a moment passed they left the axe embedded in the body of the researcher and slowly took a couple of steps towards her, when they got in front of her they slowly kneeled down and, despite the blood and despite the fire suit, gently hugged her. It was awkward and a little uncomfortable but it felt right and so slowly Zero wrapped her arms around her parent and returned the hug.

What Zero didn't expect was for the person hugging her to gently pick her up and carry her out of the room, pausing only to grab the axe in their free hand. She was taken to shuttle outside, that had the other kids on it, and was passed to the man with yellow helmet as her parent put on a weapon unfamiliar to her. She panicked slightly when she saw a few of the guards come out of the building only for them to be hit by a wave of fire engulfing them.

As she saw her parent head into the facility she turned to the man holding her,

"What's happening?" she asked a little worried,

"Don't worry Jennifer. Those Cerberus people are just going to learn why you don't take someone's child." He explained as fire and screams started to fill the facility,

"Pyro's scary enough when it's business, but this? This is personal." The one with the balaclava added in,

As the facility burned Zero spoke up again,

"So is Jennifer my name?" She asked as she watched the facility burn with fascination,

"That's right little lady." The man holding her said,

"And who are you guys?"

The man smiled before answering,

"We're friends of the family, as it were. If it helps just think of us as your uncles."

Zero, now known as Jennifer could hardly believe what she was hearing as she watched her parent return to the shuttle, she not only had a parental figure come rescue her but seemed to have an extended family as well. She was starting think that she had finally snapped and become delusional,

"Did you make the proper preparations?" The one wearing the balaclava asked,

"Aye. Primed and ready to go using the detonator." The dark skinned man said, holding said detonator in his hand,

As the shuttle took of Jennifer could see the burning facility out the window getting further and further away until the shuttle stopped in mid flight, miles above it,

"Alight we should be far enough away. Would you care to do the honours?" The explosives expert asked the pyromaniac, while holding out the detonator,

Without saying a word they took the detonator and looked at it for a few second before holding it out for Jennifer. Cautiously she reached forward to take it in hand only to be pulled into her parent's lap as their hand wrapped around hers and the detonator, giving her a better view of the facility. With her thumb poised over the detonator's button she took one last look of the facility and pushed it.

As she watched the facility disappear in a huge explosion she couldn't help but think about how much things had changed for her and what she had gained. She had been rescued by her parent and their group of mercenary uncles, who went on to personally set the facility on fire with the remaining staff before letting her blow it up. She allowed herself to smile as she thought that while she may not have much experience with families she was sure that she had the best one ever.

End

* * *

*Bonus 2.1 – If you hurt her … *

**Normandy SR2**

_To Commander Shepard_

_You don't know me but recently you have recruited a young woman named Jennifer for a presumed suicide mission against The Collectors. That woman is my daughter._

_Now I'm not going to begrudge you wanting her on your team as she is a very capable woman, who has been taught well by myself and her uncles, and is indeed the most powerful human biotic. I also do not fault you from taking her on what may have deemed to be a suicide mission, as our family simply looks upon those as exciting challenges and her experience could also be of use._

_What I do take issue with is that you have brought her upon a Cerberus vessel. I will not go into details as to what they did but after what did to my little girl I, and her uncles, swore a bloody vengeance against that particular organisation. As you can imagine I was less than pleased to find out just who she would be working adjacent with and the only thing that has stopped me from coming after you and roasting you alive is the fact that your crew seems dedicated to stopping the collectors from kidnapping entire colonies. I extend to you a rare courtesy of neither myself nor her uncles turning our attentions to your ship or crew, as I hope that the reason you are working with Cerberus is because they are the only one actively doing anything about the missing colonists. Do not make it so I have misplaced my trust._

_As you and I are both aware, my little girl is indeed a beautiful young woman now and that on a vessel such as yours there is very little chance of there being rules against fraternisation between crew members, so while you may indeed be attracted to her it is your choice as to whether or not to act on those feelings. Do Not Hurt Her. If you hurt her I will hunt you down, flambé you and then feed you to your pet krogan. Should you choose to engage in some form of relationship with her then send me a copy of your measurements, which will be used to make you either a tuxedo or a coffin depending on how said hypothetical relationship goes and if you hurt my little girl._

_And before you try to get smart with me and ask why 'The Hero of The Citadel' should be afraid of me, know that Saren's temper tantrum will pale in comparison to what her uncles and I will do to you. I am not afraid of you and if you hurt my daughter I will make you regret Cerberus bringing you back from the dead._

_All that said and done, tell Jennifer that I love her and that I hope everything goes alright. Attached to this e-mail is a picture of her with the rest of the family that she can keep with her._

_Signing off_

As Shepard was checking the old e-mails on the private computer in the Captain's Quarters, this one stood out as it was one the commander hadn't had time to read properly due to a pressing matter elsewhere on the ship. While it seemed to the ranting of an over protective parent, Shephard conceded that considering Jennifer's early background it may not have been entirely unjustified.

Clicking on the link to the picture for the first time the Commander did a double take upon seeing it; it showed a younger Jennifer who was smiling and hugging a person in a familiar looking fire suit, they were surrounded by a group of other familiar faces as well all smiling and laughing at in the picture.

The Commander's stomach dropped slightly at the recognition of the people in the picture, each of them was prominent in the history classes and books regarding the Relay 314 Incident (or the First Contact War as the turians insisted on calling it), those nine men had basically held of an army of turians without taking a single casualty save those killed before getting to Shanxi. Shepard seriously considered the fact that those people might actually be able to back up their threats.

A quiet moan drew the Commander's attention towards his bed, more specifically the sleeping and half naked form of Jennifer lying in it. Last night's activities quickly ran through Shepard's mind but the Commander wasn't filled with a warm fuzzy feeling like normal,

"Oh Crap."

End

* * *

Author's Notes: I suppose now would be a good time to say that there may be some Team Fortress 2 elements in this story as well.

I got the initial idea after seeing a comic on DeviantArt, called 'Team Effect' by 'pokketmowse'. I thought it was funny and it sparked an idea.

It also inspired the idea of jack being related to The Pyro, who can scary at the best of times getting much worse in regards to the daughter. Which led to the idea of Shepard getting a message from the over protective parent.

Also note that according to Liara, Jennifer is Jack's real name and not something I made up.

Admittedly part of The Demoman's speech came from the film 'The Rundown/Welcome to the Jungle'

Hopefully I kept the Pyro's gender ambiguous and the same with Shepard as well.

And yes I deliberately made it so that it's the turians that call the conflict the 'First Contact War' instead of the 'Relay 314 Incident'.

I hope those of you that read it enjoyed it.

"Feel free to review and constructive criticism is always welcome."


	3. Cwningen Gofod Llofrudd

Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect, owned by BioWare, but hopefully this idea is original.

* * *

Mass Effect – Cwningen Gofod Llofrudd

**Normandy SR2**

Cerberus Operative Miranda Lawson was taking note of the recent supplies that had been brought aboard at Commander Shepard's request after he and the rest of the ground team had gone onto The Citadel to pick up Kasumi Goto and to meet with Councillor Anderson, surprisingly neither Jack nor Grunt ended up causing trouble with C-Sec much to her relief. When she noticed the ground team board The Normandy she also saw them casting odd looks towards the commander, or more specifically the padlocked box that he was carrying. It seemed to be solid metal with small, uniform holes around the top of it and occasionally it shook violently.

This immediately caught Miranda's attention, Kelly Chambers had informed her that she suggested that Shepard got a pet as a means of stress relief and they had presumed that he would have gotten some fish or a hamster, and while some fish had been brought onboard by Garrus and Kasumi, Shepard seemed to have just brought on something that definitely didn't seem to be a hamster.

Miranda approached Shepard as he set the box down on a table, hoping that he hadn't done something impulsive and stupid,

"Commander, may I ask what you have in that box?" she enquired,

Shepard gave a roguish grin before smiling,

"Of course Miranda."

A few moments passed before Miranda realised that he wasn't going to explain further unless to was direct. It was a completely obvious and immature attempt to annoy her which, if she was honest, was working but there was no way she was going to let him know that,

"What is in the box Shepard?" she asked,

While Shepard seemed to be smiling at her, she couldn't help but feel as though this one was completely evil and didn't make her feel any better,

"Not 'what' Miranda but 'who'. When Kelly suggested that I get a pet in order to deal with stress I realised that since this wasn't an Alliance vessel and I could actually do that, so I managed to get word to Anderson and had him make a few arrangements to get my old pet ready for pick up." He explained with barley contained glee,

By now other members of the squad and crew was watching and listening, as seeing Miranda try to argue with 'Shepard Logic' was usually good for some entertainment. Miranda meanwhile didn't seem to be completely reassured by what Shepard was saying and she was certain that he was deliberately leaving her wanting more,

"Your 'old pet'?" She asked with a raised brow,

Shepard was still smiling as he gave a quick nod of his head,

"Had him since I was a kid, figured if I was going up against The Collectors I'd like to have him watching my back again. It'll be good to have Ripper back again." He said in a nonchalant manner. The fact that the box gave a violent shake on the table as he said 'Ripper' gave the crew pause as it also drew Shepard's attention "Huh, looks like he wants out." He idly commented as he took out a key and started to undo the padlock, causing some of the crew members to back up, like Kelly, or even drew their side arms, such as Miranda, not willing to take a chance with any animal that the Commander would keep as a pet yet sill call 'Ripper'. Shepard looked into the box before he grinned gleefully, "Ripper! It's good to see you boy!" He said as he reached into the box and slowly picked up …

A fluffy white rabbit.

Shepard held the rabbit in one arm as he stroked it with the other hand while smiling peacefully, when he looked back up at Miranda and saw her with her gun drawn and a disbelieving expression on her face. A puzzled look crossed his face as he looked around at the other people in the room all with similar disbelieving looks on their faces,

"What?" He asked,

"A rabbit." Miranda said flatly, "Your childhood pet is a fluffy rabbit named 'Ripper'?" she asked numbly,

"Evidently." Shepard answered with a raised brow,

Miranda holstered her weapon before heading back to her office, shaking her head in disbelief,

"Unbelievable. Un-bloody-believable." She muttered to herself, loud enough for others to hear her though.

Shepard briefly watched Miranda walk away before turning to the others,

"What's her problem?" He asked everyone,

Everyone turned and gave Shepard an odd look before a few moments later Doctor Chakwas started chuckling, breaking the tension. Most of the spectators began to head back to their posts, some shaking their heads in amusement at Shepard's latest efforts to push Miranda's buttons while a few of the women, led by Kelly, started fawning over the rabbit,

"So why was he put into a padlocked box?" Kelly asked as she let the rabbit sniff her hand,

"Apparently the Alliance guys handling him were worried about him biting them." Shepard dryly said making the women start giggling at the idea of Alliance personnel being scared of a rabbit.

* * *

The mission to stop the Collectors continued after encountering them on Horizon, such as recruiting more people for the ground team. At first Miranda protested against letting Ripper move about free aboard the ship but her protests died down when it became apparent that it only left its waste in the litter-box in Shepard's cabin, somehow being able to use the elevator by itself much to the confusion of everyone else. Despite no longer openly complaining about the rabbit Miranda was confused about how on earth the rabbit could still be alive and well if Shepard had it since he was a kid.

The rabbit seemed to gain the attention of the aliens onboard and brought out their curiosity about the animal from Earth, granted Grunt tried to eat it at first before Shepard found out and actually _glared_ him down, the Krogan not willing to challenge his Battlemaster.

On one occasion Shepard was making his way down to the lower levels of the engineering deck to check on Jack after helping her blow up the Pragia facility and found her sitting on her cot with the rabbit on her lap contently stroking its fur. To say that he was surprised was an understatement but when Jack realised that she had been caught with the rabbit she actually blushed before became defensive saying that 'the fuzzy rat' helped keep her calm. Shepard didn't say anything but did smile at her coming up with excuses for liking the rabbit.

Overtime Shepard's unusual choice in ship's pet just became an accepted oddity along with the Commander telling it to keep an eye on the ship whenever the ground team set off on a shuttle, the crew simply chalked it up to a slightly eccentric trait of his.

At least until shortly after they obtained the Reaper IFF.

* * *

The ground team had set off in the shuttle and things on board ship seemed to be running smoothly until EDI discovered that their location was being transmitted to the Collectors and before the pilot, Joker, could react the Collector's ship swooped down upon them, disabled their systems and began to board the ship.

The crew hastily got ready to try and buy Joker time to unshackle EDI, that way she could work at full capacity and fight off the Collector's hacking attempts. As the crew were ready with their weapons the doors opened revealing a large group of Collectors, husks and even a scion. Before either side made a move the Commander's pet hopped in between the two groups, while several women wanted to get the rabbit out of there, they knew that keeping the Collector's forces back would be more important. One of the Collectors started to spasm before lighting up in a yellow biotic field, its eyes glowing a similar ominous yellow,

"Assuming Direct Control!" An unnerving and resonating voice said as the enhanced Collector took charge, "Surrender now. You fight against beings beyond your mortal comprehension. If you lay down your weapons you will ascend to a higher form of existence transcending beyond anything you can imagine." As the voice spoke it became clear that its words was starting to affect the morale of the crew facing it, the leading Collector took several steps forward approaching the threshold of the door, "If you persist in your futile attempts at resistance then you will be destroyed." As soon as it finished speaking it had also crossed the threshold. That was when things started getting very freaky.

When the Collector crossed the threshold the rabbit leapt up and latched his mouth around its neck and before anyone or anything could react to what was happening the Collector was soon decapitated and collapsed like puppet with its strings cut. A stunned silence passed through the ship,

"Jesus Christ." One crew member breathed in awe,

The Collector forces immediate raised their weapons and aimed them towards the rabbit but before they could get a shot off it leapt at them, decapitating and otherwise maiming them. They continued trying to stop it but it practically flew amongst them ripping them apart with its teeth. The crew meanwhile could only watch in stunned silence, struggling to process the image of the Commander's pet rabbit tearing the Collectors apart, although a few husks did try to attack them, they were easily taken out by shotgun blasts from the crew.

More Collectors and husks came but soon found themselves confronted with Shepard's pet and were unable to divert their attention to the crew due to confined space of the corridor they were using to get into the Normandy. Soon all that was left was a husk crawling away from the rabbit trying to get to the crew, which was quickly dealt with by a few quick shots to the head but before more Collector forces could try and board the ship Joker had finally managed to unshackle EDI, releasing her full potential and allowing her to break the hacking attempts of the Collectors which let her take control of the ship and escape from their reach.

The crew breathed out sighs of relief as they escaped from the Collectors but they soon turned their attention towards the rabbit sitting on top of a pile of Collector corpses, covered in their blood. The crew cautiously made their way out of the area and then immediately sealed the doors to it, locking the rabbit in amongst the dead because after seeing what it could do there was no way that they were going to be able to relax with that thing hopping around.

* * *

When the ground team reunited with the rest of the crew they were worried about the trap that was sprung by the Collectors but were impressed that the crew had been able to hold them off long enough for them to escape. When they heard that Shepard's rabbit was the one that killed most of the Collectors, most were concerned that the crew had been exposed to hallucinogens or that they were joking, except for Shepard who seemed unfazed and ordered the crew to unseal the doors and let him get his rabbit. When the ground team saw the carnage and the gore covered bunny they assumed that the crew had done the killing while the rabbit had simply gotten messed up being stuck in the room.

It wasn't until EDI said that she could show them proof that they began to get unnerved. The rest of the crew was either being checked over by Dr Chakwas or in the briefing room with the ground team, ready to see EDI's evidence, even Joker was there to see it. While Shepard was in the room he seemed to be more concerned with trying help clean his pet and was wiping off most of the gore with swab pads provided by Mordin, who didn't want to waste the opportunity to study any Collector material (hence why most of the corpses was being kept frozen ready for study).

Once everyone was comfortable EDI played the security footage of the attack. At first things seemed normal, although Miranda did mentally note that the crew had been slacking off when the Collectors attacked. It was when the rabbit appeared that things got strange, when it began to attack on screen the ground team's eyes widened in surprise, along with the crew members who hadn't seen the incident. As the on-screen 'battle' took place, even the normally unflappable members of the ground team were openly gapping at what was transpiring before their eyes.

When the footage ended a stunned silence passed before every head turned towards Shepard, who seemed more concerned with trying to get his pet clean than the footage that was just shown. A few seconds passed before Miranda spoke up,

"Did you see that Shepard?" She asked in disbelief,

"Uh-huh, yeah." He replied absently,

When she saw how unaffected he was at what had just been shown she began to get suspicious,

"Did you know that something like that would happen?" she asked, her eyes narrowing,

Shepard finally looked at everyone staring at him and raised an eyebrow at their reactions to what they had just seen before turning his attention to Miranda,

"Well yeah, of course. Why do you think that I wanted him here to watch my back? Or asked him to watch the ship when I'm gone?" He asked in a tone of voice that made it clear that it should have been obvious, when he saw the uncomfortable looks across some of the crew members he gave and amused smile, "You thought it was just a crazy quirk didn't you?" When some of them tried to avoid his gaze he let out a brief laugh, "Ha, just because I act crazy doesn't mean that there isn't any method to the madness. Thanks for pads Mordin but I'm going to have to give him a bath in order to get him clean. I'll see you guys later." And with that he handed the pads to Mordin and left to get his pet rabbit clean, leaving a stunned group of people behind.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before Kasumi spoke up,

"Think we can just set Shep and his bunny on the Collectors and save ourselves a bunch of time?"

End

* * *

*Bonus 1 – B.O.B: Bringing Out the Badass*

It was several hours after the ground team had seen the footage of the Collectors' failed attack and were sitting in the mess hall drinking stuff ranging from tea to scotch, while the rest of the crew was asleep. For the most part they were trying to wrap their heads around the fact that Shepard's pet rabbit was much more deadly than your ordinary Varren and the fact that they had been letting said pet wander around freely onboard the ship. The thing that was most prevalent in their minds however was wondering just how on earth Shepard got a killer rabbit as a pet when he was a kid,

"It shouldn't be possible. Rabbits shouldn't be able to do that." Miranda said, keeping a tight grip on her coffee,

"What about with genetic modification? Would it be possible then?" Garrus asked her, downing a shot of turian brandy in the process, only for Mordin to answer,

"Unlikely. Even with extensive genetic enhancement, behaviour modification and biotic implants such feats of battle prowess should be extremely unlikely. Especially for this species. Doubtful that there are biotic implants suitable for it regardless." The scientist salarian said rapidly, still deep in thought trying to work out how such a feat would be possible.

Jack took a swig of bourbon from her bottle before she spoke up,

"Maybe when other kids were teaching their dogs to fetch, Shepard was teaching his little ball of furry terror how to tear out a fucker's throat." She said sarcastically, hiding the fact at how freaked out about the situation she was, 'Send me up against a race of bug-men that wants to wipe out humanity and I can handle that, seeing Shepard's pet rabbit tear those bug-men and their zombies a new ass-hole and my mind can't get going.' She thought to herself,

As the group tried to come up with some idea as to how Shepard's rabbit was able to fight off the Collectors, Joker's voice called out as he made his way into the mess hall,

"Actually Jack might be right about that." He said in seemingly serious tone of voice as he sat down next to Samara "Or at least partially." He amended,

"What do you mean Joker?" Tali asked curiously, making Joker give one of his cocky grins,

"I'm glad you asked me that Tali. Simply put it goes like this: The Commander brings out the latent Badass of anything around him." Joker said simply, causing a few members of the ground team to groan at the idea of another one of his jokes while other rolled their eyes,

"We thought you were being serious for a moment there Joker." Garrus said,

"And I am. Okay maybe I over simplified but EDI and I were looking over Shepard's records and it does seem that Shepard can bring out some of the best in those around him." When Joker saw the sceptical looks he was getting he held up his hands in placating manner "Look I know it sounds crazy but the evidence is there and I know that it isn't an immediate effect and that it take time but it is true."

"Oh, there evidence is there? And what might that be?" Miranda said sarcastically,

This didn't seem to affect Joker, who actually seemed to take it as a challenge if his smirk was anything to go by,

"Well the most obvious example is everyone in this room. Just think about before we met Shepard and compare ourselves to how we were to how we are now."

While some of the group seemed to not be taking him seriously, some actually seemed to be giving what Joker said some thought,

"Bullshit." Zaeed simply said,

Joker seemed undeterred, "Oh really? Consider this then; before Garrus met Shepard he was just a C-Sec agent, granted he was considered for SPECTRE training but can he honestly say that back then he could fight three of the most influential merc bands to a standstill while practically on his own?"

Everyone turned to look towards Garrus who seemed to think for a few moments before reluctantly nodding his head,

"Okay I'll admit that before I met Shepard I wouldn't have even considered doing what I did on Omega." He said

Miranda couldn't believe it when she saw some of the others actually start to consider what joker had said,

"It wasn't a standstill since they would have killed him if Shepard hadn't shown up." Miranda argued,

"Yeah right. The only reason they would have succeeded was because they had to work together with each other and that they had a gunship that he had already disabled with one shot from a sniper, even then they were taking on anyone off of the streets to soak up his shots. They basically had more bodies than Garrus had bullets." Joker explained, his expression showing that he was being serious,

"And what about when he got hit by the gunship? He would have been killed then." Miranda retorted

"Yeah, but Shepard had already found him by then which allowed him to survive a rocket to the face and get back up a day or two later." Joker countered,

"He survived because he was treated by Dr Chakwas and Dr Mordin, not because he was in Shepard's presence." Miranda said as her grip around her coffee mug tightened as she saw some of the others actually nod along with what Joker was saying. Jack saw an opportunity to push Miranda's buttons and grinned before speaking,

"You might be onto something there Limpy. I may have been an all-powerful bitch before meeting Shepard but now I feel stronger and more in control. If I was to get into a fight with the old me, then it wouldn't even be a contest." When Miranda started to glare at her she simply smiled sweetly at her. Nobody at all thought she was being sincere towards Miranda.

Kasumi smiled like a Cheshire cat when she realised what Jack was doing,

"Now that you mention it, since meeting with Shep my skills at hacking under pressure has improved as well as my ability to fight." She said in a clearly amused tone of voice,

"Before Tali met Shepard she was just a girl on her pilgrimage, now two years later she's leading marines of missions." Garrus said with a smile catching on to what was happening,

"Missions where she lost most of the people under her command." Miranda countered, clearly beginning to get frustrated,

"Because the guys wouldn't follow her orders or an army of geth pinned them down." Garrus retorted,

"And let's not forget that Liara used to be a naive archaeologist and now she's one of the most powerful information brokers there is." Tali chipped in, her voice clearly indicating that she was starting to find the situation funny and she wasn't the only one either, the rest of the group was starting to find Miranda's face reddening in frustration with the situation amusing, even Samara had small smile on her lips,

"Okay this joke has gone on far enough. I'll admit that under Shepard's command we've improved but it's not because some ability to 'bring out the badass'." Miranda said angrily, which surprisingly Joker nodded along with,

"I got to agree with her." He said making everyone give him a suspicious look, "I know you guys were joking but you all raised valid examples. I know you guys are struggling to believe this but there are examples going back to before the original Normandy, like during The Skyllian Blitz, just him leading the civilians to fight of experienced raiders and slavers."

The fact that Joker actually seemed to be serious about this brought the others up short before he actually continued with his argument,

"I mean the original Normandy itself is an example. Would any of us have expected a _stealth_ ship to be able to deal the death blow to Sovereign?" When Joker saw the scepticism present on a few of the others' faces he decided that he would need some help, "EDI you can back me up can't you?"

EDI's voice was heard almost immediately,

"Of course Jeff. Statistical evidence indicates a marked improvement amongst those that work with Commander Shepard and Captain Shepard."

"Wait a moment EDI. What do you mean by 'Captain Shepard'?" Garrus asked,

"Captain Hannah Shepard is Commander Shepard's mother. Existing data on her indicates a strong positive correlation between serving alongside or under her and a noticeable improvement in combat efficiency."

"Come on, are you saying that she's some sort of mega badass like Shepard?" Jack asked sarcastically,

"Yes. Her combat records during the First Contact War indicate that she personally killed more turians than any other human in the conflict and after peace was reached she was selected to help develop what would later become the N7 program due to her efficiency in the conflict. Also on her first stay on The Citadel she was arrested for being drunk and disorderly after getting into a fight with a krogan. Which she killed. With one punch. Before she had any bio-modifications." EDI answered extensively,

A stunned silence passed through the group, with even Legion seemed surprised by what had just been said, the only one who seemed unaffected was Joker who seemed to have a smug smile on his lips,

"Are you joking EDI?" A shocked Jacob asked, "And how wasn't she arrested for killing the krogan?"

"No. That was not a joke. Her service record is beyond exceptional and the performance of those under her command or have been trained by her is well above average. Also she wasn't arrested because the krogan threw the first punch." She replied calmly, making Joker look like the cat that got the cream,

"You all see? It's not just the Commander that's a badass that brings out the badassitude in others but his mom does as well. It's hereditary. And don't forget he was raised by her so his badassitude was amplified by her badassitude meaning that he can bring out more badassary out of others."

"Will you stop saying 'badass'?!" Miranda snapped, starting to look frazzled,

"Not happening. Even I'm affected by the Commander's presence, if I had to climb through all those ducts and tunnels to unshackle EDI before meeting Shepard then I would have been gotten myself killed." Joker said, clearly proud of his accomplishment,

"No! No way!" Mirada half-shouted, "I'll admit that under Shepard's leadership we have performed above expectation and that maybe we improved in our skills but I refuse to believe that his presence somehow improves your Vrolik Syndrome."

Joker held his hands up in a surrendering manner,

"If you refuse to hear the truth then I won't stop you. I've said my piece and I'm sure that you're all smart enough to see the truth eventually so I'm heading back to my post. What you do with the information EDI and I have given is up to you. Good night ladies and gentlemen." And with that he stood up and left the mess hall leaving the ground team in a contemplating silence.

Half a minute of silence passed before Garrus hesitantly spoke,

"As crazy as it sounds, I think he had a point. The Collectors had to blindside him before spacing him and even then all it did was annoy him." He said in a quiet voice,

"We find that data on the extranet supports EDI's claims. We have also experienced measureable improvement in performance since joining with Shephard-Commander." Legion added simply,

"No." Miranda growled out warningly,

"He did knock some sense into me." Zaeed said thoughtfully,

"And helped me to find peace." Samara added,

"I as well have experienced this." Thane agreed,

"Since working with Shepard my breadth of knowledge has increased significantly." Mordin idly commented,

"No, no, no." Miranda growled, her coffee mug beginning to crack,

"Fighting with Shepard has taught me how to truly use my battle-rage. He truly seems to be born to be a Battlemaster without equal, just as his mother seems to be." Grunt said before going strangely quiet, seemingly in thought,

Before anyone else could comment Miranda's mug shattered in her hand as it was clenched into a fist,

"If the rest of you are just going to prattle on about this asinine idea then I'm just going head to my office. Better filling out paperwork rather than listen to more of this moronic conversation." Miranda said while barely holding back her anger, before getting up and heading into her office.

This seemed to be the cue for others to start leaving as well, leaving only a few others to finish their drinks and Grunt, who seemed to still be in thought,

'Shepard is a superior Battlemaster, just as his mother is. It is a bloodline worth continuing and there are doubtless many females who would want to bear his children but only the strongest should be permitted, so as not to weaken it. Our mission is very dangerous and it would be preferable for him to try having children as soon as possible but most of the females on this ship are too weak to be worth considering. The quarian would be unable to bear his offspring so Shepard mating with her would be an exercise in futility. The thief if cunning and resourceful but she still not as strong as the mother of Battlemaster's children should be, plus she seems to harbour feelings for the dark skinned human. The Lawson female seems strong and Shepard seems to have gained her loyalty since helping her protect her sister but it is still unsure if she would side with Shepard or Cerberus. Jack is small but very powerful and dangerous, she's aggressive and kills any who crosses her if they don't submit, she has been through much hardship to be made into the ultimate weapon, has a questionable level of human sanity and since Shephard has helped her destroy where she was tortured she has shown complete loyalty to him despite denying it.' The young krogan turned his gaze towards the tattooed woman he was thinking about, 'She's perfect.'

Jack noticed the looks that Grunt was giving her and was starting to feel uncomfortable,

"What are you looking at?" She growled out at him which seemed to make him smile knowingly,

"Oh, nothing." He said innocently as he stood up and left the mess hall, 'If I'm going to get those two together I'll need to do some research on how humans pursue a mate. The things I do for Battlemaster.' He thought to himself as he began preparing to make plans.

End

* * *

Author's Notes: Okay I'll admit that the killer rabbit idea came from the geniuses at Monty Python but hopefully the idea to mix a killer rabbit with Mass Effect was an original idea.

This was just a random idea that hit me when on a 'WikiWalk' on TV Tropes and is just a (hopefully) amusing drabble.

For those of you wondering the title is supposed to be '_Killer Space Rabbit' _in Welsh but I'm not sure how accurate Google Translate is.

The bonus section is just a (non-serious) idea I had as to how the people that Shepard commanded could improve so much, seemingly just by being in his/her presence. The thing about his mother being an 'exemplar' Alliance Soldier was just something I put in there for fun and admittedly led to the idea of Grunt 'innocently' wanting to protect his Battlemaster's bloodline and the only woman on the Normandy that would fit in with idea of a suitable mate, by krogan standards, would be Jack but I think that I may considered it for a different story.

I hope you've all enjoyed reading this.

"Feel free to review and constructive criticism is always welcome."


	4. Fox and Wolf

Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect, I'm not making any money from this and so there's no reason for anyone to sue me.

* * *

Mass Effect: Fox and Wolf

**Omega**

Morinth smirked as her latest target began to admire her collection of mementos, taking the opportunity to admire him as well. She had been at Afterlife's VIP section when she saw the well-dressed human start to take charge of the scene by putting grabby turians in their place, bailing out a journalist in way over her head, persuading the bartender to give everyone free drinks and even staring down a krogan. These acts alone would have been enough to gain her attention but the fact that he was an experienced traveller seeking the next thrill, while also being sophisticated enough to actually know who the artist Forta was would simply make her coming conquest all the sweeter.

After he had finished admiring her swords he finally sat down next to her, she didn't mind the wait as she found the chase almost a sweet as when she claimed her prize – the keyword being almost. As they talked she found herself drawn to the man, his likes and interests so very compatible with her own, the calm confidence that he carried himself with and the aura of danger that followed him, it was almost intoxicating and she could hardly wait to indulge her desires but this wasn't something to be rushed, it was to be savoured until just the right moment and he surrendered himself to her will.

She leaned forward slightly making sure to maintain eye contact with the human, enjoying the dangerous glint he was keeping restrained, it was almost time to bring this meeting to its climax as she shifted to the conversation to the human's adventures,

"You've seen a lot of action in your travels, haven't you?" she asked

The human gained roguish grin before answering, clearly amused,

"I suppose I have but to be honest most can barely present a decent challenge. At times just for kicks I let them think they have the advantage and then at the right moment take them out, it's even better if they start monologueing."

Morinth grinned as she heard the human speak, the human seemed to be far more compatible than any of her other partners in a long time and it would be all that much more satisfying because of it, she leaned a little closer lowering her voice to just above a whisper and allowing some of her desire to subtly express itself,

"I understand just what you mean. I just love that t moment when they think that they think they're in a dominant position before you turn the tables and they're at your mercy."

"Oh really?" the human said boldly, his body language seeming to indicate his interest despite his efforts to conceal it.

Morinth mentally tallied another victory in her head as she took hold of the man's hand, a hungry look crossing her features as she began trying to establish a bonding between them, her eyes turning the typical black of when ordinary asari did but unlike them she would use it remove his inhibitions completely and to surrender himself to her before giving him an experience he would not forget. To further her advantage she actively lowered her voice down to a whisper and let it become noticeably tantalising and seductive,

"Of course, just imagine what we can accomplish together. Our power together, forever, and we'd be near unstoppable. Together we could experience a freedom unlike any you can possibly imagine, just as we should be, wild and untamed, guided solely by our instincts and desires. Tell me that you want that, tell me you want to spend eternity with me, tell me you're mine."

The human looked down at her hand holding his before looking into her eyes, smiling serenely.

* * *

Samara, the Justicar, was showing rare signs of restlessness as she was in the apartment building's elevator. She had followed Shepard and her daughter from Afterlife and had briefly lost sight of them, but had fortunately spotted them heading into the apartment building. Luckily there was nobody manning the reception when she entered allowing her to quickly access the records and learn which room was Morinth's.

Now that Samara was so close to stopping Morinth she was more on edge than she had been for decades, it wasn't the fact that she would have to kill her daughter, as she had come to terms with that a long time ago, but was more concerned with Shepard's safety. She hoped that Shepard didn't end up paying for her slip up for she found him be a good man, admittedly he could be quite ruthless but by that point a peaceful solution had often been not a option. It was a risky move having him act as live bait for Morinth but it was also the one that provided the best chance of stopping her after four hundred years of her predations on others.

As the elevator finally began to open she hurriedly pried open the doors and quickly stormed her way to Morinth's room. Not wanting to lose any momentum she sent a biotic push towards the door, blowing it off of the hinges allowing her to rush into the apartment where she promptly stopped in her tracks at the scene in front of her.

The apartment was completely ruined.

The furniture was destroyed, the tables broken, the couch seemed to have been ripped in half and if Samara was right then the missing half had been thrown out of the broken window. Evidence of gunshots could be seen in the walls, probably from the discarded assault rifle. There were craters in the walls and floor, even one on the ceiling, most likely cause by biotic but there was no way for her to tell if they were caused by Morinth or Shepard. She also didn't fail to notice the various blood stains, both asari and human if she was any judge.

While she was relieved that Shepard didn't seem to fall to Morinth's usual charms, she was concerned with the fact that the evidence that her daughter didn't take his resistance well. Samara knew that Shepard was good soldier and a powerful biotic but Morinth had spent the better part of four centuries gaining strength and experience against all manner of enemies.

Just as she was about to search the apartment she was met with the relieving sight of Shepard entering the room holding what appeared to be a sealed bottle of asari wine in one hand and two glasses in the other, he broke out into a pleasant smile upon seeing her,

"Ah, Samara I was wondering when you'd show up." He held up the sealed bottle he was carrying, "Would you like a glass? Say what you will about Morinth but I can't deny the fact that she has good taste." He asked nonchalantly,

It took a moment for the surprised Samara to react in the face of how calm Shepard was despite their current surroundings and his slightly roughed up appearance, such as the rips in his suit and cut across his left cheek,

"No, no thank you." She replied absently before snapping to attention openly displaying her concern for the Commander, "Shepard are you alright? Where's Morinth? She didn't escape did she?" She quickly asked the man who was now sitting on top of one of the counters as he began to unseal the bottle,

"In order; I'm fine, she's stuck in the bedroom and no, she didn't escape." He replied calmly as he poured himself a glass of the wine before he seemed to take note of the damage done to his suit and frowned, "Our situation got a little rougher than anticipation, a shame as I really liked this suit. I wonder if Kasumi will tell me where she got it from. Oh well," He shrugged, "Let's deal with Morinth and get back to the Normandy, okay?" He cheerfully suggested as he got off of the counter and headed into one of the rooms further back in the apartment.

Samara eyed Shepard with trepidation and a little suspicion, while she had seen him calm and in control after a fight, she didn't think that he would be this casual after an encounter with her daughter. She cautiously followed Shepard, not knowing what she would find but what she saw in the bedroom stopped her in her tracks.

The bed had been completely crushed against the wall which showed signs of biotic damage as well as the floor and ceiling and there was significantly more asari blood spilled in the room but all of this though paled into insignificance at the sight of her daughter.

Morinth's arms had been spread apart from each other and each were impaled through the forearms by one of the swords that she kept as trophies and they were both buried up to the hilt, sticking firmly into the wall and suspending her over a dozen inches off of the ground with her feet staked to the wall by large fragments from the bed. Her face was worse for wear as well, her nose was clearly broken, her bottom lip had been split while her right eye was starting to get swollen shut and that was on top of the various other cuts that she had, one of which had cut the tip off of one of her head's tendrils. The rest of her body was in a rough condition as well, her clothing ripped, torn and cut which revealed the lacerations and freshly forming bruising underneath.

Morinth's breathing was laboured as she raised her head and looked Samara in the eyes while tears started running down her face,

"Mother! Please save me." She desperately begged, "I'll do whatever you want but please, save me from that monster." She then began breaking down into sobs "Please save me. Save me Mother. Save me…" she quietly trailed off with her eyes drifting out of focus,

Samara stared in pure shock at the state her daughter was in. It was clear that Shepard didn't just defeat Morinth but broke her; physically, mentally and emotionally and as bad as Morinth was she couldn't stand seeing her daughter like this. She kept a cautious eye on Shepard before speaking,

"Shepard. Did you torture her?" she asked with an edge to her voice, "Did you torture my daughter?" the underlying warning was clear,

If Shepard was offended by the enquiry then he didn't show it,

"No, I didn't and before you ask, the reason I was so brutal was because it was the best way I had of making sure that she was restrained. I won't deny feeling a little vindictive pleasure at taking her down a few notches, but after what she did to that girl I'd say she got off lightly." He explained calmly before his face shifted to an expression of genuine concern aimed at Samara, "Shall I leave her for you to deal with? Or would you prefer me to finish the matter? I'll understand if you're conflicted about this." He asked her,

Samara seemed to consider the matter for a few moments before answering,

"Thank you for the offer but this is something I have to do myself. Could you please leave us alone?" She asked,

Shepard simply nodded his head before leaving the room leaving the two women alone.

A pregnant pause passed before Samara walked up to Morinth and began to pull the bed fragments from her feet, discarding the remnants to the side before carefully extracting the swords where she then caught Morinth before she could fall onto the ground and tenderly lowered her to the ground before cradling her in her arms. Throughout the process Morinth gave no indication that she felt any of it, just quietly sobbing to herself begging for her mother to save her.

Samara looked upon the broken form of her daughter with pity, Morinth had allowed her condition as an Ardat-Yakshi to almost completely overwhelm the precocious and endearing young Mirala and now Shepard had comply destroyed Morinth leaving only the broken remnants of her daughter. She couldn't deny that a part of her wanted to take Mirala away to get treated and hopefully come to terms with her condition alongside her sisters but her code was clear and Morinth had committed too many atrocities over the centuries to simply be forgiven,

"Please, help me mother." The broken woman quietly cried her eyes still unfocused,

Samara tenderly placed her hand on her daughter's forehead, almost as if feeling her temperature,

"I will Mirala. I promise I'll make it stop." She said before taking a deep breath, "Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess." She quietly intoned before sending a biotic pulse into her daughter's brain, killing her cleanly and painlessly, where she then gently set the body down and closed its eyes. As she stood to leave the room she took one final look at her daughter before she sadly shook her head and left the room.

* * *

When Samara left the bedroom she saw Shepard sitting on the kitchen counter, giving her a concerned look. She took a steadying breath before addressing him,

"Thank you for your assistance Shepard. We should probably make our way back to the Normandy now." She said as she began walking towards the exit but was stopped by Shepard speaking,

"Are you alright Samara?" he asked her sincerely, making Samara turn her attention towards him,

"I'm fine Shepard. You made sure that she would be no threat." She answered, her tone far cooler than normal,

If Shepard took offence towards her tone then he didn't show it, "That's not what I meant and you know it Samara." He said knowingly,

Samara closed her eyes and let out a sight before looking at him again and replying, "I came to terms with the reality of having to kill Morinth centuries ago but seeing Mirala like that was not something I had anticipated."

"I assume that Mirala is her real name." Shepard probed,

"Indeed. Seeing her so vulnerable has left me with mixed feelings, both about the situation and you." She explained,

Shepard nodded his head in confirmation, "Because of the condition I left her in, correct?" he asked,

She nodded her head solemnly,

Shepard took a calming breath before responding, "As I said, it was the best way I had of restraining her and I admit that I did let myself get caught up in my bloodlust." He said sincerely,

"I will not begrudge you for your actions here tonight Commander. Morinth was a monster and very dangerous opponent, so I understand why you could not afford to risk holding back." Samarar said in an understanding tone of voice, appreciating his honesty and the situation he would have been in when fighting Morinth,

"Thanks for being so understanding but I'm not going to deny that part of the reason I was so brutal was out of a sense of vengeance." Shepard said bluntly, apparently not wanting to try and justify himself,

Despite his blunt honesty he had regarding how he handled Morinth Samara couldn't deny feeling a sense of appreciation towards him, "Regardless I offer my thanks and gratitude."

A few moments of silence passed between the two of them before Shepard spoke again,

"Do you have any plans regarding her body?" He asked her, "It would be no trouble to retrieve her and put her on ice on board the Normandy." He explained with genuine concern,

At first Samara was going to state that that had more pressing concerns but when she thought about her daughter's final moments, so scared and helpless, and when she thought about what fate her body might face on Omega, being left to rot or jettisoned out of an airlock being the more pleasant ones, and she found a part of herself that couldn't just simply leave her body where it was,

"Thank you, I think I will accept your offer." She accepted with a small smile,

Shepard nodded his head before finishing his glass of wine and resealed the bottle, which he handed to Samara and hopped down from the kitchen counter before he then headed into bedroom, only to emerge with Mirala's body held gently in his arms. If Samara didn't know any better she would have thought that Shepard was carrying her injured daughter, rather than her corpse and side by side they left the apartment.

As they were entering the elevator Samara addressed Shepard,

"You know, I'm surprised that you would admit to allowing yourself to succumb to your desire for revenge." She said casually,

"I normally try to keep control of myself but I do have my limits." Shepard explained calmly, to which Samara nodded her head in understanding, before a satisfied smirk crossed his lips, "If you think this was bad you should have seen what I did to Jacob's father." He said in a slightly amused tone,

Samara had heard about what that man had done to his crew, while those on the ground team hadn't said what Shepard had done, they all confirmed that he had killed Ronald Tayler but none of them said how he killed the would-be despot,

"While I'm sure that he deserved whatever you did to him, I find myself curious as to what course of action you took." She enquired,

She would swear that she briefly saw his eyes flash red for a second before he answered,

"Let's just say that I took a page out of Vlad Tepes' book." He hinted,

While Samara was familiar with the human expression, she wasn't unsure who he was talking about but she did think that the name sounded familiar. It was something that she would look up later.

The two of the left the elevator and began to walk towards the Normandy before Samara spoke again,

"I have to say that I underestimated you Commander. I wouldn't have thought that you would have been able to defeat Morinth by yourself." She complimented Shepard,

"She underestimated me as well." He replied, "I guess when you're the fox amongst the hens it's easy to forget that there are wolves out there." He said cryptically,

Samara wasn't sure if it was a human idiom that she was unfamiliar with, but shrugged it off as something to investigate later.

The two of them arrived at the Normandy with no problems and Samara allowed herself a brief smile as she felt as if weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, she had a lot to thank Shepard for and had a feeling of peace she hadn't felt in centuries.

End

* * *

Author's Notes: Okay here's a (hopefully) serious piece for once, which stemmed from me wanting to use a random idea that popped into my head, '_when you're the fox amongst the hens it's easy to forget that there are wolves out there_'. I have no idea where it came from but it eventually spawned the idea above.

I hope that what I had Shepard do to Morinth/Mirala wasn't too extreme but who else felt that some characters got off lightly, e.g. Ronald Tayler, and should have suffered more?

"Feel free to review and constructive criticism is always welcome."


End file.
